CNBC Business News Update - Market Close: Stocks Plunge, Investors Fear Recession, Consumer Spending Pulled Back In February 3/10/25

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

From Wall Street to Main Street, the latest on the markets and what it means for your money. Updated regularly on weekdays, featuring CNBC expert analysis and sound from top business newsmakers. Anchored by CNBC's Jessica Ettinger.

I'm Jessica Edinger, CNBC. Wall Street opens Tuesday morning after the ugliest sell-off of the year for stocks on Monday. Investors went from being worried about tariffs to being really worried about a full-blown economic slowdown and possible recession. The Dow plunging 890 points, 2% led lower by shares of Nvidia down 5%. The S&P 500 index lost 155 points, 2% led lower by shares of Nvidia, down 5%. The S&P 500 index lost 155 points, that was almost 3%. The Nasdaq plunged 727 points, 4%. March madness is upon us. However, this year it started in the stock market as opposed to on the basketball courts.

As investors continue to climb that proverbial wall of worry, whether it's fears over economic slowdown, a potential recession, tariffs, overspending on AI, check any box that you like, but this has led into a pullback in increased volatility. Henyon and Walsh's Kevin Maughan on CNBC. Now the NASDAQ had its worst plunge since September of 2022, about two and a half years.

Meantime the S&P 500 index, the fund for which a lot of Americans have in a retirement account, well you don't want to look at that one. Down eight nine percent in three weeks in the S&P 500 we're below the summertime highs. The problem is when you have this type of scorched earth approach, the wrecking ball approach in some respects, like, you know, Doze, for example, has done things break. CNBC's Scott Wapner and Mike Santoli. Bitcoin below 80,000 by Monday afternoon and Bitcoin related stocks like Coinbase and Robinhood were worth about half at the close what they were worth at the open. The

tech led selloff hit the magnificent seven names hard. Apple, Google parent alphabet and Metta dropping more than 4%. Microsoft down 3%, Amazon down 2%. But the real loser on Monday was Tesla plunging 15%. Its worst day in five years after a weekend of protests at Tesla stores nationwide by Americans unhappy with CEO Elon Musk and his sweeping government job and program cuts. Tesla has lost almost half of its value since January 1st. After the Treasury Secretary told CNBC the economy is slowing and there will be a detox period last week, President Trump then declined to

rule out a recession, according to the Wall Street Journal. If you can't take that, get out now. Get out now. Yeah. Because you're just going to have the same drum beat every day. Yeah. CNBC Med Money host Jim Cramer with CNBC's Curl Quintanilla. Consumer spending watched as a barometer for the strength of the economy and it dropped for a second month in a row in February in the new CNBC National Retail Federation

retail monitor. The retail monitor powered by real credit card spending data from Affinity Solutions shows retail spending, ex-auto and gas declining by a modest 0.22% after January's sharp decline. It was the first back-to-back monthly decline for the monitor. We have back data going back to October 2022. The N.R.F. said in its analysis that consumer spending dipped slightly again in February due to the combination of harsh winter weather and increased economic uncertainty caused by tariff and other policies that have started to negatively affect consumer sentiment.

That's CNBC Senior Economics reporter Steve Leesman. On Tuesday's watch list, earnings are coming from Dick's Sporting Goods and Kohl's. We get the latest on job opportunity and labor turnover. It's the fifth anniversary of the COVID-19 outbreak being declared a pandemic. Jessica Edinger, CNBC. Weeknight. I think bonds represent safety in a world where the president's noninflation has become the chief impediment to higher stock prices.

Too many companies can be tariffed, there's just way too much fear. Mad Money, weeknight 6 Eastern, CNBC.